ESPN, Twitter extend advertising partnership

Published on May 17, 2013.

San Francisco—Twitter Inc. is partnering with ESPN Network to expand its presentation of short sports videos intended to attract ads and paid social posts.
ESPN will sell ads inside the video clips shown on Twitter, with advertisers having the option of paying for Promoted Tweets to highlight the ads. The move extends an earlier agreement between the two companies that featured tweets appearing on ESPN telecasts and sponsored ESPN football highlights on Twitter.
The deal also reinforces Twitter's relationship with TV. In February, the company bought social TV analytics company Bluefin Labs, which uses social media commentary to measure viewer engagement. And in December, Twitter and Nielsen announced a multiyear agreement to create the Nielsen Twitter TV Rating, a measurement of the reach of TV conversation on Twitter.